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Cheng Lang had registered two social media accounts that afternoon. He had thought posts like these, shamelessly fawning over a pretty face, would surely attract attention online—after all, Shen Huaiyu's aura spoke for itself! His photography skills were excellent, and the unrequited-love piece he had written was delicate and lingering enough.

Yet an entire afternoon had passed, and the two posts he had made on Weibo and the school forum had only gotten a few hundred views, with barely any replies. Let alone bringing customers to the milk tea shop.

Cheng Lang had no idea what had gone wrong. All he could do was create several alt accounts to bump his own posts. To make absolutely sure he would not be exposed too soon, he had even bought proxy IPs.

Unfortunately, the results were negligible.

Cheng Lang sighed. As expected, the beginning was always the hardest!

"Quit sighing already!" The shift supervisor patted Cheng Lang on the shoulder. Although Cheng Lang always liked to slack off and get distracted during work, he had a good personality and a sweet tongue. He was also one of the bar's top servers for beverage commission, practically one of the supervisor's star players. A top salesperson being in a bad mood would affect business, so the supervisor naturally had to comfort him properly. "Today's your first day as a headliner at White Jade Capital. Have you prepared what you'll perform onstage later?"

As they spoke, Wang from the Entertainment Department came looking for him as well. When he spotted Cheng Lang, his expression darkened like black iron. "I looked everywhere for you. So you were hiding here slacking off."

Without waiting for Cheng Lang to respond, Wang asked again, "You go on at nine. Do you need makeup or a change of performance clothes?"

Under normal circumstances, White Jade Capital's resident singers had their own stylists and brought their own stage outfits. But Cheng Lang's situation was unusual. Although Wang disliked this guy who had parachuted in halfway through, for the sake of White Jade Capital's standards, he could not just let Cheng Lang embarrass himself. He still had to point out what needed pointing out. "How do you need the band to work with you? You haven't even rehearsed together."

"No need." Cheng Lang spoke carelessly. "Whatever key they play in, I can sing in." The strong were simply this confident.

Wang: "..."

"What about your stage outfit?"

Cheng Lang lowered his head and glanced at his server uniform. "This is fine."

Wang frowned hard.

Cheng Lang raised a brow. "What, I don't look good in this?"

That was not it.

Though Wang did not think much of Cheng Lang's talent, even he had to admit that Cheng Lang's looks were truly exceptional. Especially that careless, rakish air about him.

Wang snorted. He did look the part.

"Since you don't want anything, I'll prepare things as you said. But let me remind you—this is White Jade Capital. You'd better not make me lose face."

Cheng Lang ignored Wang. When nine o'clock arrived, he lazily stepped onto the stage beneath the complicated gazes of the staff.

"Why is it you again?" A customer below the stage asked unhappily. "Where's Tianye? We want Tianye!"

"Your Tianye's throat is still feeling unwell today, so I'm filling in." Cheng Lang brushed him off lightly. He casually picked up the guitar onstage, and before the customers could ask any further questions, his long fingers plucked the strings. A graceful, melodious guitar solo rang out.

The customers seated around the bar stared at the stage in surprise. Some who recognized the intro had already begun to sway softly along with it.

The band members onstage looked at one another. The drummer could not help joining in. After hesitating for a moment, the others found their hands itching to follow.

While playing the guitar, Cheng Lang casually glanced at the band behind him. A beam of light shone down over his head, rendering his features even more strikingly handsome. He tugged off the bow tie around his neck and undid the top two buttons of his shirt, revealing his prominent Adam's apple and delicate collarbones. Under the lights, he exuded an effortless sensuality.

"On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair..." His slightly low voice accompanied the flowing melody into the customers' ears. Even deliberately restrained, Cheng Lang's deep voice carried a faint cello-like texture.

"Hotel California." An older customer murmured to himself. He had not expected to hear such an old song in a bar like this.

In that instant, the entire bar fell silent. Only Cheng Lang's singing and the band's accompaniment could be heard.

When the song ended, the whole venue remained quiet for several seconds before erupting into thunderous applause, as though everyone had suddenly come back to their senses. The customers below the stage screamed excitedly and whistled.

Someone even directly ordered drinks to be sent onstage, clearly very satisfied with Cheng Lang's performance.

Cheng Lang raised a brow, quite pleased with his own charm.

After taking a drink and resting for a few minutes, Cheng Lang sang several more classic old songs. Then he began to grow a little impatient.

"What do you want to hear?" Cheng Lang said lazily. "You can request songs."

After a pause, apparently worried the customers would not understand, he further explained, "But it costs extra."

Wang, who had been watching Cheng Lang's performance the entire time, could not help rolling his eyes. He had just been astonished by Cheng Lang's singing and guitar skills, only to be disgusted again by Cheng Lang's blatant greed.

"How did Chen end up taking a liking to something so unbearably tacky? All he talks about is money!" Wang could not help complaining to his subordinates. "Is he that short of cash?"

One of them smiled. "I heard he grew up in an orphanage without a father or mother. Maybe his life was hard before, so he picked up some bad habits."

Wang shook his head. Still, the prejudice he held against Cheng Lang eased a little.

In contrast, the customers below the stage liked Cheng Lang's bluntness very much. They had been at White Jade Capital for so long, yet this was the first time they had seen a resident singer who wore his love of money right on his face.

"As long as we pay, you'll sing anything?"

Cheng Lang stared at the customer who had spoken. He narrowed his eyes, his face full of wariness. "There's something off about you."

"What's off about me?" The customer's face reddened slightly at Cheng Lang's words. Egged on by the other customers around him, he forced out an explanation. "I was just asking. If I paid extra and asked you to sing Peking opera, could you do it?"